If you’ve ever been to McDonald’s, you have tried a McDonald’s Big Mac. Now, you can create your own homemade Big Mac with this copycat recipe! The Big Mac ingredients include two hamburger patties, American cheese, “special sauce” (a variant of Thousand Island dressing), iceberg lettuce, pickles, and onions, served in a three-part sesame seed bun.
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What Makes a Homemade Big Mac So Good?
This homemade Big Mac is elevated from fast food quality with patties that you can enjoy directly after hand-shaping and grilling them.
It is also made with the freshest ingredients, such as crispy lettuce, sweet and tangy Big Mac sauce, pickles, onions, and more. All of the components are layered between light, toasted burger buns, giving a slight crispiness that offsets the juicy meat.
Why You Should Try This Recipe
Few burgers match the fame of a classic Big Mac. Whether you’re looking to save some money or just want to take on a fun cooking project, this recipe will offer you a juicy and saucy burger that tastes just like it’s fresh from McDonald’s.
Making this stacked burger at home is much easier than you think. There’s not a long list of ingredients for the patties, just a simple combination of 100% beef, salt, and pepper, which is all it needs.
When you pair the beef patties with the incredible special sauce and all the toppings, you’ll applaud yourself for how authentic and delicious it tastes.
What is special about the Special Sauce?
McDonald’s Big Mac sauce is really just a form of Thousand Island dressing. This special sauce isn’t made in McDonald’s stores anymore. It now comes in an airtight container that gets squirted out like you would a chaulking gun. What some people get wrong about this sauce is that it uses ketchup; this recipe doesn’t start with ketchup.
But you can make it yourself! My copycat Big Mac sauce recipe approximates the sauce reasonably closely. We love it, and you will too. And you can use the homemade Big Mac Sauce as a salad dressing for a Big Mac salad or dipping sauce for chicken tenders and fries.
Big Mac Ingredients
Here’s what else you need. All of these ingredients are easily found at grocery stores.
- Ground beef chuck
- Salt & Pepper
- Butter
- American Cheese
- Minced white onion
- Pickle slices
- Iceberg lettuce
- Special sauce
- Sesame seed hamburger buns
How to Make Big Mac Burger Buns
As you know, Big Macs have three layers of buns. The McDonald’s Big Mac Burger buns are easy to make at home.
You will use a package of hamburger buns and some buns as the middle bun. So, with a package of 8 hamburger buns, you can make about five homemade Big Macs.
Cut the top off of the top bun to make it even, then use the bottom half as the middle portion of the Big Mac.
How to Make a Big Mac
- Season the hamburger meat with salt and pepper.
- Shape into 10 thin patties.
- Grill the patties or cook the patties in a large skillet to your liking.
- Spread butter on the cut sides of the buns and place them butter-side down on the grill.
- Grill the buns until they are slightly browned. Make sure the middle bun is toasted on each side.
- Build the burger by placing the secret sauce, lettuce, cheese, onions, and one patty on the bottom bun.
- Top it off with the middle bun.
- Then add the sauce, lettuce, pickles, onion, and another patty to the middle bun.
- Top with the top bun and you are all set.
What to Serve with a Homemade Big Mac
Pair your juicy Big Mac with a McDonald’s sweet tea and french fries! And, while you’re at it, you might as well enjoy the whole experience with a copycat McDonald’s M&M McFlurry, which you can dip your fries in.
You can also serve the burger with a salad, tater tots, potato chips, onion rings, or coleslaw. Plenty of accompaniments complement the burger, so feel free to get creative.
How to Store Them for Later
For best results, keep the components separate when you store leftovers. This prevents the bread from getting soggy and retains the freshness of each ingredient. Keep the lettuce, onions, pickles, sauce, and cheese in their respective containers or resealable bags.
The hamburger patties are of the best quality when you store them in an airtight container after they are fully cool. Keep everything in the refrigerator except for the buns. Before reheating the patties, examine all the toppings, especially the lettuce, to ensure they are fresh.
What is the Best Way to Reheat It?
The best way to reheat the burger patty is on the stovetop or in the oven. With the stovetop method, you can add a splash of water and cover it to prevent it from drying out. Flip it over and remove it as soon as it is thoroughly heated.
The oven is also excellent because it toasts the buns evenly, and you can reheat the burgers simultaneously. Set the oven to 350°F and cook the burgers on each side for 3 to 5 minutes. After flipping the patties, add the buns for the last 5 minutes.
History of the Big Mac
This famous hamburger was created by Jim Delligatti, who owned several McDonald’s franchises in the Pittsburgh area. Although not all Big Macs are made exactly the same, this burger is sold worldwide.
The one we have come to know and love became popular in 1974 with this jingle, “Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions – on a sesame seed bun.” This marketing campaign will not let us forget all of the ingredients of the Big Mac.
How can you make this recipe even better?
No one can argue how good this tastes. It is the perfect flavor combination. Pulling out the middle bun and making a larger burger patty, you can get one delicious burger. We either do these as smash burgers or season the meat with Lawry’s seasoned salt. The elements of this burger that stand out are the combination of onions, pickles, lettuce, and sauce. So when we make this at home, we build it like a regular burger and add all the toppings.
Love burgers? Try these recipes
- Butter Burger
- The Whopper
- Make Your Own White Castle Burgers
- Steak N Shake Burger
- Truffle Burger
- Buffalo Blue Cheese Burger
- Pizza Burger
- Big Mouth Burger Bites
- McDonalds Hamburger
- Basic Burger Seasoning
Popular McDonald’s Drinks
Check out more tasty beef recipes and favorite fast food restaurant copycat recipes.
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Homemade Big Mac
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds ground chuck
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 5 whole hamburger buns plus 5 extra bottom buns for use as middle buns
- ¼ cup Big Mac sauce
- 5 tablespoons minced onion
- lettuce
- 5 slices American cheese
- 15 dill pickle slices
Instructions
- In a bowl, season the ground chuck with salt and pepper. Shape the meat into 10 relatively thin patties.
- Flip the burgers and cook for an additional 3 to 4 minutes, until the juices from the meat run clear.
- Spread the softened butter on the cut sides of the buns and place them on the griddle until the bread begins to brown. Flip the middle buns and allow them to toast on both sides.
- Assemble the burgers in the following order: bottom bun, Big Mac sauce, onions, lettuce, cheese, hamburger patty, middle bun, Big Mac sauce, onions, lettuce, hamburger patty, two or three pickle slices, and finally the top bun.
Thank you for all the yummy recipes. My hubby will love the Big Mac being made at home. Always watching your creations so I can try them .
I wanna try this, but only have the premade frozen beef burger patties. Might be a silly question, but will it still work with these? Has anyone done that?
I think you could use those, and it would be just fine, your patties may be a lot thicker though.
Honestly I wont be going back to Maccie Ds, this recipe is awesome and guys please try the pizza hut copy too , really spot on